So our young people are more likely to drink too much alcohol, do
drugs and get pregnant than their counterparts elsewhere. Reactions as
usual tend to attribute blame to schools - of course - and parents.

I have now taught in schools for over 25 years and have seen health
education programmes grow from a little to very comprehensive. Certainly
in the last ten years, I have never come across a school, either through
inspection or general visits where drug and alcohol abuse is not a part
of the curriculum along with sex education.

Neither have I ever met a parent who is unaware or unconcerned
about these issues. They may well disagree about the best ways to guide
young people but the desire to guide is there.

There are no simple answers to these problems. If there were, we
would all be putting them in place. As everyone knows, among a group of
young people who have participated in the same health education
programme, some will use legal drugs sensibly and illegal drugs not at
all, others will abuse their bodies with anything that comes their way.
Within one family, one offspring will be sensible, another with the same
influences and controls, will be the reverse.

I wonder whether the bleak picture is in part down to the nature of
education and values in the broadest sense that, as a society, we have,
perhaps unconsciously, come to accept. I have had an opportunity in
recent weeks to talk to year 6 pupils and been very struck by what a
rather arid year it is for them. 'What is happening at school at
the moment?' 'We're practising key stage 2 papers
again'.

Of course, the conventional wisdom is that in year 6, the children
are all geared up and making great progress which is then tragically
lost when they enter secondary school and key stage 3. The reality is
practising exam papers month after month. The opportunity for children
to create has been pushed to the parameters of education. There is no
time to write poetry, make music, understand their experiences by
forming them into a new creation.

Yet it is in creativity that our answer may lie. The Romantic
movement believed that the creative artist was man at his most god-like.
The instinct to create is in every one of us and is an immensely
powerful and satisfying drive. Yet as a society, we value consumerism far more.

The message that young people receive is that happiness will lie in
consuming. It doesn't. Many cannot afford the flashy luxury items
that are constantly advertised and suffer the resentment and frustration
that brings. The answer doesn't lie in them having these items -
digital TVs etc - because those that can afford to acquire them find the
promise they offer illusory. Material goods are sold by linking them to
values we do desire: love, happiness, beauty, warmth in human
relationships, new horizons. But they are not those things and
don't automatically bring them.

Our education system is operating in a not dissimilar way. Work
hard to get a level 5, a grade C or above and so on. The worth of
knowledge for itself, completely separate from assessment, is lost. Even
more so is the value of creativity. Yet it is the act of creation that
can offer all the highs and lows of the drug culture and more besides.

I sat this week in an absolutely packed Symphony Hall at one of the
Children's Classic Concerts that the English Symphony Orchestra
bring regularly to Birmingham. Every child I saw had some sort of
instrument. They appeared absorbed and focused, even in such an enormous
group.

To encourage creativity in young people, this sort of opportunity
is essential and it is most welcome that the Government has just
announced money to develop work between arts groups and schools. Also
the secretary of state has set up groups to look at developing the
curriculum in various ways - one being how the contribution of the arts
to pupils' education can be maximised and another aiming to provide
guidance for schools on ways to promote pupils' creativity.

If young people can find satisfaction in writing a song, drawing a
cartoon, completing a novel, choreographing a dance, they will not need
to get drunk, or overdose.

To create - to bring into being - to cause to exist - to form out
of nothing. Our ability to do this is a part of what makes us human. It
won't necessarily make anyone millions but it will satisfy the
soul.

Sarah Evans is headmistress at King Edward VI High School for
Girls, Edgbaston.

CAPTION(S):

Young people in Britain drink more than teenagers anywhere else in
Europe

COPYRIGHT 2001 Birmingham Post & Mail Ltd
No portion of this article can be reproduced without the express written permission from the copyright holder.